“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE, BUT FIRST IT WILL MAKE YOU MISERABLE.” PATSY CLAIRMONT
I hear you, Patsy! I’ve experienced this when:
- Someone has confronted me about one of my weaknesses. Ouch!
- I’ve stepped on the scale and realized that BIG changes need to happen. Yikes. I’ve realized I need to exercise more or make nutritional changes. Ugh.
- I need to stop being conflict-avoidant in my marriage. Ooooooo
- My addiction becomes intolerable: for me it’s been sugar. Bummer!
- I fought accepting that sin separated me from God. Eternal pain!
- What about you? Is there a truth you want to avoid, but accepting and working through the agony will ultimately set you free?
For me, I get motivated to begin the process when I let myself really examine and experience how much pain my current problem is causing me, and will continue to cause over time. Then it becomes a choice:
- Do I want long, drawn-out, misery that will last indefinitely or shorter pain…and then freedom, joy, peace.
- Do I want to endure hearing about how my weakness affects others, then make a proactive plan to change, enlisting the help of a mentor, counselor, or accountability partner?
- Do I want to be uncomfortable, anxious, and miserable during a process of giving up my addiction-of-choice, or continue to experience its side-effects as they get worse and worse?
- Do I want to keep talking through conflictual areas in my marriage until progress and freedom occur, or just keep sweeping it under the rug and smolder in despair?
- The truth WILL set you free, but first it will make you miserable. We often miss out on freedom because we don’t want to pay the price for it. But the price is worth it!
“So… “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Galatians 6:9